The Companion Effect: Household and Local Context and the Turnout of Young People

Abstract

Models of youth turnout often neglect the importance of the household and local context. Drawing on theories of socialization, contextual effects, and voting as habit, we offer an account of why some young people vote and others do not. Using evidence based on electoral returns from the 2001 British General Election, we find that young people’s participation is particularly sensitive to the presence of other voters in the household. Using survey data, we discount the possibility that the effect is simply attributable to varying levels of political interest and strength of partisan support between households.

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